FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST #10 - - Watch & Learn

With each successive episode of this show, I feel a greater need to
recant any wish I made about seeing more adventures with Ed and Al after SACRED
STARS OF MILOS. I’m getting a very clear picture of what stories in this world that
haven’t been devised by Arakawa are like, and they’re… less than
inspiring.

That’s not to say that BROTHERHOOD was necessarily a perfect show. Two
of my biggest gripes against it concerned its rather slipshod vision of
alternate European history and its wild mood swings - - and both of those issues surface again in this one-off introducing what might as well be anime’s answer
to Catwoman.

For the former, there just isn’t that cohesive a feel to this
Venice analog where the bumbling inspector from LUPIN III (basically)
scurries around; but that really isn’t too bad...

For the latter, well… I often described BROTHERHOOD as being like “DUCK
TALES does FAUST” because it’d tackle dark and heady philosophical issues, then punctuate it with silly histrionics that’d better fit a Saturday morning
cartoon. This was more the case early on, where every time I tried to get into
the show as an epic fantasy, somebody would go chibi and the peak-a-boo made me
suddenly very self-aware that I was a grown man taking a children’s show too
seriously.

BROTHERHOOD was eventually able to sort those kinks out. Because this
version lacks the fabular direction that balanced out the kinks (we’re ten
episodes in with no definite purpose yet), the kinks are all that’s left to
focus on.

Look, this kernel of this plot is worthwhile - - Ed and Al learning a
hard lesson about feminine wiles that nothing in their books could teach them.
The gag of them showing up to each demolished site, and still being big rubes about this gal,
is funny as well. But… it’s also kind of dumb. As in all the characters are acting dumb and all the surprises are dumb (this chick has super-powerful cleavage). As in, it's dumb enough to make me feel
pretty silly for taking this show seriously enough to write a quick write-up like
this.

And we can’t have that, can we?

Watch this episode, "The Phantom Thief" here and decide for yourself, then read
my comments on the previous episode here.

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number
of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - -tompinchuk.com- - and follow his Twitter:@tompinchuk

Well, the show does pick up later. And it wasn't that bad of an episode, sure nothing great but it was at least a bit funny. And tbh. Brotherhood sure took a while to pick up. I mean the first 15 episodes were a bit boring if you ask me. At least, for someone like me, who had seen this anime first since they were pretty much showing things that were shown there.

God, I hate this episode. It's like Boogie-Woogie Feng Shui, like the writers forced the gopher to write while they all went and had lunch. I'm not saying every FMA episode is gold, but this is pretty much the only episode I can't defend at all, nor have I any desire to. It doesn't even match the tone, nor is it relevant on a thematic level.

I didn't necessarily agree with your assertion that the Nina Tucker story was more effective in Brotherhood, I thought the Brotherhood version of it was saccharine, manipulative, overly rushed and hollow, while I thought this version of it was an effective blend of science fiction, fantasy and horror. I didn't necessarily agree with you about the story involving the alchemist who tried to resurrect his dead lover. I thought it was engaging and interestingly set up. I didn't agree that this version of Scar was inferior to the Brotherhood version. Sure, the Brotherhood version of Scar was more impressive, but I find this version to be far more compelling. True, you haven't gotten that far yet, and I am of course talking about individual standards.

But I 112% agree about this episode. It sucks. I don't know why I chose such an arbitrary number.

I love FMA and I stand by my claim that it is superior to Brotherhood, (more thoughtful, better paced, more complex characters, just all in all more interesting). To me, Brotherhood was an overly rushed gathering of short-joke-spouting plot devices rather than actual characters. Though it is very engaging, I thought it was going to collapse under the weight of its own subplots. I thought it was vapid and typical shounen fare compared to its predecessor. I thought it was overly and mindlessly faithful to its excellent source material. I thought it was cheesy, and many times not in a fun way. I could go on and on.

However, I have to admit that there are some very clumsily written episodes in the 2003 version, this one being the worst.

I can say I think it gets much better, but if this episode is what makes you decide to stop watching altogether I really can't blame you.

I haven't been on this site in a loooooooong time. But randomly deciding to read this article made me want to log on for one specific reason.

I read this: "That’s not to say that BROTHERHOOD was necessarily a perfect show. Two
of my biggest gripes against it concerned its rather slipshod vision of
alternate European history and its wild mood swings"

I'm pretty sure I said this before, during a Brotherhood W&L, but I'm going to say it again. BROTHERHOOD AND THE MANGA ARE NOT ALTERNATE VERSIONS OF EUROPE. THE IDEA AMESTRIS IS AN ALTERNATE GERMANY, AND THE REST OF THE CONTINENT IS ALTERNATE EUROPE IS A CONCEPT COMPLETELY UNIQUE TO THIS VERSION OF THE STORY.